Regulators: Trump can keep big sign at downtown DC building

WASHINGTON (AP) _ District of Columbia regulators have ruled that an oversize sign in downtown Washington bearing Donald Trump’s last name is legal despite his presidential run.

Trump’s organization is transforming the Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue into a luxury hotel. D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen had questioned whether Trump needed a permit for the sign after he launched his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

WRC-TV (http://tinyurl.com/nqwe5aj) reports that the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs wrote to Allen on Friday that the federal government has jurisdiction over the site. As a result, the department says it doesn’t need a sign permit like other construction sites do.

Allen questioned the sign following Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants. Celebrity chef Jose Andres pulled out of a planned restaurant at the hotel.